China's ambassador to the European Union, Fu Cong, has refuted claims that the lack of communication between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicates support for Moscow in the ongoing conflict, NYT reports.

Fu Cong pointed out that China never supplied military equipment to Russia and did not acknowledge the Russian invasion of Ukrainian lands.

He implied that China did not condemn the invasion because it understood Russia's argument on waging a defensive war against NATO aggression and that the fundamental reasons were more complicated than Western officials indicated.

The envoy also stated that Xi Jinping's failure to call Zelensky does not indicate China's loyalty to Russia, and stressed that China and Ukraine have frequent low-level interactions.